Stomach ulcer / gastro? I'm miserable

[plantingandpotting]

For around 4 days I've had a horrible gnawing pain in my abdomen, like a crampy burning. Stomach is tender to the touch. Nausea and gas, loose stools (although not usual for me as long-sufferer of IBS). Worse in the mornings and evenings.

I take Omeprazole anyway for reflux, so have just been doubling up my dose on the really bad days.

With it being Easter I probably won't get to see a Dr until well into next week.

Does this sound like an ulcer?

I'm in bed now feeling thoroughly sorry for myself. It's so hard to get through the day when you just want to clutch your stomach and lay down.

Hi OP this sounds exactly like my stomach ulcer. I had pain in the daytime but every night between 1-3am without fail the pain was so much worse. Add to that horrific heartburn. I was given codeine, omeprazole and liquid gaviscon initially and then antibiotics after a blood test confirmed H Pylori bacteria. I took gavsicon 4 times a day and it did seem to help. 111 might be able to help even though its bank holiday weekend as there are stronger things than omeprazole, anti nausea and pain killers that would help. The most annoying part was how much worse it was when I didn't eat and yet the pain caused me to not want to.

Best wishes x

Was going to say, sounds like typical h. Pylori symptoms (I've had it twice, and symptoms were exactly that)

It's very common (60% of the world population are thought to have it but most symptomless) but needs antibiotics as in some rare cases it can cause an ulcer to develop.

Also, if you've been on PPIs for a long time, it could actually be LOW stomach acid. After my h.pylori I had this- identical symptoms to high stomach acid. My GP told me she gets more cases of low stomach acid these days than high as PPIs are thrown at everything even if sometimes they can be counterproductive.

I'd ask for an h.pylori test first.

If you're on ppi's they will give a false negative on the h.pylori test. Your GP will ask you to come off the Omeprazole for 14 days before testing you which is what I had to do last year.

Obviously you should seek medical treatment op but would you also consider using milk kefir, I make my own and have found it helpful in keeping gastritis at bay.

Thanks everyone. I've had health anxiety in the past so trying not to leap to conclusions today.

It's been years since I was a chronic googler and I really don't want to go back there!

I'm going to try cutting out caffeine, spice, alcohol (boo, poor timing for Easter) and eat gentler foods for the next few days.

Sorry to those who have had this, it's horrid.

@plantingandpotting how are you feeling and did you get to the bottom of what is was? I am being followed up for a suspected stomach ulcer but was wondering if these are stomach ulcer symptoms:

• dull epigastric pain
• gnawing hunger pains
• loose stools
• burning in upper abdomen, particularly when drinking alcohol

I don't have the acid reflux/burning throat which made me question whether this is an ulcer...

It pretty much calmed down after a couple of weeks so I put it down to a weird bout of gastro. Stopping drinking tea/coffee really helped with the cramps.

I have had loose stools on and off now for months though so think I'm also in the midst of an IBSD flare. No fun.

Hope things improve for you / you get seen. If you're anything like me, stress can be a huge contributor to all of the symptoms you've mentioned.